Category: Business & Markets

Gold futures pushed their slide into an eighth consecutive session Thursday as prices languished at their lowest since early February. A sharp drop for oil prices, as crude dropped below $49 a barrel for the first time this year, weighed on gold trading. The yellow metal fell even as a rising dollar index paused its

Rates for home loans spiked along with a surge in Treasury yields as Federal Reserve officials guided market expectations toward an interest rate increase next week. It is only the third week in 2017 in which interest rates have increased.

Treasury yields moved moderately lower Friday as investors awaited the jobs report from President Donald Trump’s first full month in office. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged lower to 2.604%, while the yield on the 30-year bond was flat at 3.189%. The yield on the two-year note was off slightly at 1.376%. Treasury

China’s central bank head, Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan, on Friday indicated there’s a slight shift there away from the largely expansionary monetary policy that’s been in place for the last few years. With the economy healthier, the bank is moving to support government efforts to cut off overly generous credit and lower financial risks, he said

The U.S. economy added 235,000 net new jobs in February, beating expectations for 190,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.7% from 4.8%, while the labor force participation rate edged up slightly to 63% from 62.9% in January. Economists had forecast 190,000 job gains, according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey. Many

It may not be the Fed that signals a more aggressive rate hiking scenario Wednesday — it could be the inflation data. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by a quarter point Wednesday afternoon, and it is likely to sound more upbeat about the economy. Its dual mandate — inflation and employment —

U.S. interest rates futures rose to session highs on Wednesday as traders dialed back their view on the timing of the Federal Reserve’s next rate hike following its quarter-percentage point increase last week. Federal funds futures implied traders saw 49.6 percent the U.S. central bank would raise rates at its June 13-14 policy meeting, compared

The Fed confirmed that its interest-rate policy committee will meet as planned on Tuesday and Wednesday despite the winter storm that has hobbled much of the Nottheast. The Fed is widely expected to raise the range of its benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter-point at the end of its discussions. The central bank will

Bank lobbyists who opened the Trump era with great expectations for sweeping regulatory reform are privately striking an increasingly dismal tone as hopes for a quick and thorough rewrite of Dodd-Frank legislation dim. Lobbyists say they are facing the reality that bank deregulation legislation will have to wait in line behind other bigger priorities such